Publishers outraged at book sales to Anthropic

TOKYO >> Criticism is mounting within Japan’s publishing industry over revelations that a subsidiary of major book distributor Nippan Group Holdings Inc. sold Japanese books to U.S. artificial intelligence developer Anthropic PBC without notifying publishers. Trust toward Nippan is on shaky ground amid concerns that Anthropic used the books for AI training. “Book distributors have always insisted they support publishing culture by working in close cooperation with publishers and bookstores,” said Norio Yamamoto, president of the Japan Book Publishers Association, which has about 380 member publishers. “But what they say and what they’re doing are different things.” In a written response to an inquiry from the association, Nippan acknowledged early this month that it had sold books to Anthropic.

First reported by Honolulu Star-Advertiser. This page is a short excerpt; the full text is theirs.